Timely cover feature in Outpost magazine as I head back up and into Nepal’s Himalayas and their tales and characters, their struggles, and stunning bits of magic. The shepherd I’m chatting with on the cover, spoke more clearly about the “changing weather” question, with less of an agenda, and more common sense than most mortals with a shirt on that I’ve encountered within the urban worlds. I’ve long wondered when it is that we will actively encourage and invite these characters and their tales (from ground zero) into the greater narrative of policy making for a future. Earth needs their old interconnected wisdom and empathy.
The above shepherd didn’t need time to think about answers. He spoke simply about lands he has trudged since childhood. Once again, it wasn’t so much change itself that he found startling; it was the speed of change. He spoke of his goats as clever and stubborn creatures that were his lifeblood. He spoke too of the need for beliefs to explain and rationalize why the “skies had changed”.
Mountains have long offered up guarded sanctuaries of beauty (if that is one’s thing) and they have also offered up knowledge basins and characters who remember common sense remedies and lifestyles that (if not always ideal) are still connected to something ‘connected’. Whether it be with climate, relationships, or simply the concept of sustainability (which ties in more to standard living than a separate concept for them).
Always a bow of the head and a smile as I return to the ‘hills’ and their lessons from the out and the within. As always, I have a tea cake stashed away for the always and all the time sessions while in the ‘beautiful ups’.
The He Kai cake that will feed and fuel. One of the old stand-byes for travel.